I was absolutely exhausted after work yesterday. I’m thinking the crappy night of sleep from the night before and the 4:45 AM wake-up call to bike to the track is what did me in. All I wanted to do when I got home was lay on the couch and veg. I actually hate nights like that because it makes me feel kind of icky and unproductive, but I know they’re necessary from time-to-time.

We made an easy dinner of pasta with tomato sauce and grilled asparagus and then I whipped up some dough balls for dessert. I think I maybe ‘wung it’ a little too much with the brown sugar in these though as they are really, really, really sweet! I suppose measurements are there for a reason

We spent the rest of our night crashed on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I (my favourite of all the HP movies – yes, even the most recent one!)

Oh, and because my night last night was soo interesting, I thought I’d share a cute Webster picture since I haven’t shared one in awhile

He snuck up on Eric’s back last night when Eric was eating yogurt. He lays on Eric’s back all the time but he was all nonchalant about it like it was no big deal and then he slowwwllyyyy scooted himself forward until his chin was on Eric’s shoulder, right in perfect eyesight of the yogurt.

I kind of want to photoshop this and put a thought bubble over Webster’s head that says “please share your yogurt with me!?”

And that, my friends, was my Wednesday night.

Thrilling. I know.

How was your Wednesday night? What did you do?

Previous long run recaps:

• Portland Marathon Training: 11 Miles

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I ran 17 miles this morning!!!!!!! That’s a new PDR (personal distance record) for me.

Also, those will be the last !!!!!!!!!! as, to quote my training partner Lisa, this was a craptastic run.

Let’s backtrack to last night.

I made some zucchini pasta for carb-loading.

And then settled in to watch this movie.

I ordered it online a couple of weeks ago and figured that the night before I run my longest distance yet would be the perfect time to watch it.

“When you cross the finish line, it will change your life forever.” – Ahhh, what an inspiring movie! Totally psyched me up to run!

I also snacked on some Farmers Market kettle corn and a piece of dark chocolate while watching. And then had another bowl of kettle corn. OK, OK, another 1.5 bowls.

I was crawling into bed at 9:15 PM with my book and turning off the lights by 9:30 PM as I had a 4:45 AM alarm to answer to!

I then proceeded to toss and turn all night long. When the alarm went off, I felt like I’d barely slept. I ate the same breakfast as last week only with bananas on the toast this time. I had planned on starting my run by 5:30-5:45 but got caught up doing something on the computer and didn’t head out until 6. I must stop turning my laptop on because it sucks me in and makes me late all the time in the mornings!

The sun was just coming up when I finally started running at 6.

I was going to do the same loop I’d done for my 14 and 15 mile run, only this time I was going to do an out-and-back through a residential area first to tack on some more miles. The loop is only 9 miles.

The residential area ended up being a lot more hilly than it seems when I drive it. That might have been my first mistake, doing the first 8 miles on rolling hills.

Miles 1-8

Mile 1 – 10:56

Mile 2 – 10:35

Mile 3 – 10:36

Mile 4 – 10:38

Mile 5 – 10:28 (I took a GU here)

Mile 6 – 10:47

Mile 7 – 10:13

Mile 8 – 10:36

Now, I was actually pretty happy with these splits as I was aiming for a 10:20-10:30 pace overall. I figured I would pick it up the second half like I’ve been doing in previous runs and negative split.

Ya, that so didn’t happen.

At Mile 8, I hit Bridge #1 of the “Three Bridges Loop”. It’s called this because you cross three bridges and run a loop around the river.

Running across this bridge is right around the point where my right arch started to hurt. No idea why. It’s never bothered me before. I wasn’t wearing new shoes. I think my body just likes to throw me for loops once in awhile. My shin finally feels 100% so now my arch on the opposite leg will start to bother me. Lovely

Here’s where I started to slow down.
Mile 9 – 10:33

Mile 10 – 11:13 (Took my 2nd GU here)

Mile 11 – 11:15

Then I reached Bridge #2.

After this bridge I thought it would be smooth sailing. I was on a flat, shaded path that I run on often and really liked. But somewhere around Mile 15 I felt like I hit a wall.

Mile 12 – 10:56

Mile 13 – 10:25 (Took 1/2 a GU here)

Mile 14 – 10:21

I forgot to take a picture of Bridge #3. I was so exhausted by the time I got to it, but it was around this point.

Mile 15 – 11:32 (Took 1/2 a GU here)

Mile 16 – 11:13

Mile 17 – 10:43
Overall Stats
17 miles – 3:02:53 – 10:45 pace

I had high hopes of going to Hot Yoga after my run this morning, but by Mile 16 I’d decided there’s no way that was gonna happen. When I got back to my car I promptly laid down in the grass and stayed there for a good 10-15 minutes. Wanna see what I look like after three hours of running?

Hot. I know.

After lying in the grass for awhile I did some downward dog and stretching and drove home. Usually I go stand in the river for cold water treatment but today I just wanted to get home and EAT!
I promptly devoured this yogurt bowl. Side note: Liberte Pro-Biotic, Organic Vanilla yogurt sucks. It is not worth $6 a container. They were out of my beloved Coconut flavour so I bought this. I will not be making that mistake again!

I am now trying to find the energy to foam roll and shower. It’s not looking good. Can’t I just be a sweaty mess on the couch all day?
In reflection, I felt pretty defeated after this run. Like, really, really defeated. My legs hurt. My feet hurt. My back hurt. I was tired. I was hungry. It was hot. Blah, blah, blah.

After writing this post, I think I’ve realized it just wasn’t my day. It really sucks that I had to have a crappy run when I tackled a new distance record. But it happened, and I finished the run anyways, that’s what counts! Hopefully 18 miles next weekend goes better.

Have a great Sunday!

Happy Monday!

In case you missed it:

• I’m posting about my Long Slow Distance Runs every Sunday afternoon now. This week was 11 miles: Portland Marathon Training: 11 Miles

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Friday night Eric and I packed some snacks and hopped in the car for a 1.5 hour road-trip to the Starlight Drive-in Theatre.

I had heard lots about this place but had never been. On a Friday night when we had no other plans and admission for two movies is only $9 each, it sounded like a fun way to spend the evening!

We packed some veggie pitas, apples and blue corn chips in an attempt to be healthy. BUT, the apples and blue corn trips didn’t even get touched because we couldn’t resist popcorn and skittles once we got there! Whoopsie! We did eat the pitas though and got our veggies for the evening

The first movie didn’t start until 8:45 PM and we got there at 7:30 PM (upon the recommendation of the website) and there was already a big line-up!

After spending about 10-15 minutes crawling through this line-up we were in and secured a great parking spot in the second row. And… then we had an hour to kill! So we walked around and took some pictures!

The biggest screen in North America (apparently!)

Did a little bit of All Over Yoga!

Posted an Operation Beautiful note in the bathroom.

And then we got some popcorn and settled into the car for the movie! Side note: Watching a movie from your car is sooo much more comfy than the movie theatre seats!

Since it was a double-feature we saw Despicable Me and Inception. Despicable Me was a really cute movie, I really liked it!

I was really, really looking forward to Inception because I’d heard so many great things about it on Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I started dozing off at the end of the movie.

Overall, I’d say that yes, it was a good movie (and I LOVE Leo!) but it wasn’t as great as everyone hyped it up to be. I was kind of disappointed. And I didn’t have any weird dreams afterward (not yet anyways) but maybe that’s because I fell asleep during the movie!!

We didn’t get home until 3:00 AM on Friday night! I don’t even remember the last time I stayed up that late. I was exhausted and we immediately crashed and slept until almost noon the next day.

Overall it was a great, but very long and exhausting night, driving 1.5 hours home at 1:30 am is not fun. I think the next time we go we will camp close to the theatre, or skip the double-feature and only see one show.

Has anyone else ever been to a drive-in theatre? I never went to one as a kid so this was my first time going! Also, who else has seen Inception? Thoughts?

PS: Happy Birthday to my Mom! Love you!